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INDIAN NOTES 
AND MONOGRAPHS 

Edited by F. W. Hodge 




A SERIES OF PUBLICA- 
TIONS RELATING TO THE 
AMERICAN ABORIGINES 



HUNTING CHARMS OF THE 

MOXTAGXAIS AND THE 

MISTASSIXI 



BY 

FRANK G. SPECK 

AND 

GEORGF r. - UEYE 



NEW YORK 

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN 

HEYE FOUNDATION 

1921 



El 

,^\%l S 74- 



HUNTING CHARMS OF THE 

MONTAGNAIS AND THE 

MISTASSINI 



BY 

FRANK G. SPECK 

AND 

GEORGE G. HEYE 




PREFACE 

HE specimens described herein 
and the notes pertaining to 
them were obtained by Dr 
Frank G. Speck, of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, and Mr R. S. 
Speck, during a visit to Lake St John, 
Quebec, during the summer of 1920. AI- 
tliough a comprehensive collection ot 
Montagnais and Mistassini ethnological 
objects was gathered, only five of the class 
of specimens known as nimdban were 
obtained. 

It is to be hoped that further investiga- 
tions among these people by Dr Speck, 
in behalf of this Museum, will bring to 
light other facts regarding these interest- 
ing symbolic objects. 

George G. Heye, 

Director. 



INDIAN NOTES 




HUNTING CHARMS OF THE 

MONTAGNAIS AND THE 

MISTASSINI 

By Frank G. Speck and George C. 
Heye 

T IS impossible to categorize 
the ninidban (the Montagnais 
name for this object) in exact 
terms. In general it is a 
prayer for game, a symbol of the hunter's 
body, his life, a symbol of the spirit which 
leads him to his game, a means of com- 
municating with tlie shades of the ani- 
mals, an object of ceremonial importance 
worn at dances performed by the hunter 
over the body of the slain animal. The 
nimaban is probably more, but much 
remains to be learned by collecting more 
examples and ascertaining their indi- 
vidual significance. 



INDIAN NOTES 



HUNTING CHARMS 



The term nimdban seems to signify 
"dance-cord," from nimi-, "dance," and 
the common Algonkian stem -aban, denot- 
ing "string," "length of something plia- 
ble," which occurs in cognitive forms 
throughout eastern dialects: compare, for 
example, Penobscot -Abi {ivo'bA'bi, "wam- 
pum;" aganiA'bi, "snowshoe string;" 
maksAHA'bi, "moccasin string;" wu- 
skwA'bi, "carrying strap"), and Malecite 
-a^p\ Micmac -a'be. Most of these tribes 
know the term nimdban as a pack-strap, 
but its symbolic aspect is not emphasized 
as among the northern St Lawrence divi- 
sions of the group, so far as is now known. 

Spread oVer an extremely wide range 
of country, the various bands of the sub- 
Arctic, semi-maritime hunters known in 
literature as the IVIontagnais ("moun- 
taineers"), exhibit considerable variation 
in dialect and custom. From Hamilton 
river in eastern Labrador, following the 
coast of the Gulf of St Lawrence west- 
ward to the Saguenay, the Alontagnais 
are seafarers and forest nomads according 
to season and fancy. There are two 



INDIAN NOTES 



HUNTING CHARMS 



dialects on this stretch, which covers a 
lineal distance of 800 miles and extends 
about 200 miles toward the interior of 
Labrador to the height of land dividing 
the St Lawrence waters from those of the 
Arctic. One dialect {a), spoken from 
Moisie river eastward, has phonetic and 
grammatical peculiarities akin to the 
Naskapi of the interior, and this is what 
is known as the Coast Naskapi, as the 
name was sanctioned years ago by Hind 
and other early travelers. From the 
Moisie westward to the Saguenay there 
is another — the more typical Montag- 
nais (6). 

(a) Includes the Montagnais of Moisie, 
Mingan, Romaine, Natashquan, St Au- 
gustine, Eskimo river, and Hamilton inlet 
on the coast, and possibly Nichicun lake 
and Waswanipi lake in the interior. 

(b) Includes the Montagnais proper of 
Seven islands, Godbout, Bersimis, the 
Papinachois of Manicouagan river and 
lake, Escoumains, Tadousac, Chicoutimi, 
and the now extinct band of Murray bay. 

In the interior, at Lake St John, the 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



10 



HUNTING CHARMS 



dialect is related, but grades off toward 
the Mistassini and Cree. 

Dialect, however, is no criterion of 
culture; accordingly there are variations 
in material culture, art, and mythology, 
which make substantial differences be- 
tween the bands, necessitating the forma- 
tion of groups into which they may be 
classified on the basis of both culture 
and dialect. A long and exhaustive 
survey and full collections will be made 
before these groups are finally determined, 
but at present the collections and in- 
formation allow the Lake St John band, 
or Pikwagami, to be classed as one; the 
Chicoutimi, Tadousac, and Escoumains 
bands as another; the Bersimis as an- 
other, and so on eastward, band after 
band, the rest awaiting more attention 
before they can be grouped. 

The three specimens of nimaban de- 
scribed below are classified as the type of t he 
Pikwagami ("Flat lake," Lake St John), 
an interior Montagnais culture interme- 
diate between that of the coast and that 
of the eastern Xaskapi and Mistassini. 



INDIAN NOTES 



HUNTING CHARMS 



11 



The nimaban shown in pi. i was used 
for a bear hunt, and is made of well- 
tanned moose-skin. In form it closely 
imitates a pack-strap, and in fact it 
symbolizes one. The wide part is bound 
on the upper edge with a red silk ribbon, 
and on the lower one with a similar 
ribbon of green. The scene is em- 
broidered in red, yellow, and light-blue 
sewing silks. This magical object is 
worn by the hunter who has had a 
revelation about getting game in the 
future. He carries this decorated strap 
with him on the trail, and when, true to 
the revelation, he gets his game, he wraps 
it in this strap and brings it home. The 
hunter keeps the strap in secret, more or 
less, and does not show it lest it lose its 
power to function as a safeguard against 
starvation. The figures show trees on 
each end, the trail and canoe, the hunter 
with his axe, and the bear trying to cross 
to a lake which has a cross trail. When 
the hunter finds and kills the bear, he sits 
down near it and smokes. After having 
laid the bear out on its back with crossed 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



12 



HUNTING CHARMS 



paws, he puts black tobacco in its mouth 
and places the nimaban on its breast or 
about the neck. Sometimes before this 
is done the hunter places the nimaban 
across his head, allowing the ends to fall 
over his shoulders. He then dances 
around the fallen game, at the same time 
singing, thus expressing the hope that he 
will have to utilize a pack-straj) often in 
bringing back game, and voicing his joy 
at the success of his hunt. 

The length of this specimen is 158I 
inches, and its extreme width at the 
embroidered part is 2| inches. 

The next nimaban (pi. Ii) is of tanned 
moose-skin, and was made by Napani, 
one of the oldest Montagnais hunters of. 
the Lake St John band. He said he used 
this after returning from a hunt in which 
he was under necessity to avert famine. 
When the needed animal was killed, he 
put this nimaban on his forehead, dancing 
around it once or twice singing, rejoicing 
for luck and success, and as a recompense 
to the spirit of the beast. This specimen, 
also, represents a pack-strap, and as in 



INDIAN NOTES 



HUNTING CHARMS 



13 



the former one just described, symbolizes 
the desire to use a full-sized one in bring- 
ing home a quantity of meat. There are 
four tufts of red and black ribbons at- 
tached; the red ones represent small 
game, and the black ones bear. This 
specimen is 55 inches long and i^ inch 
at its widest point. 

PI. Ill illustrates an interesting nima- 
ban, intended for a youth going on his 
first caribou hunt with his father; it 
was made for Awanic, son of Simon 
Rafael. This specimen also symbolizes a 
pack-strap, and is of soft-tanned caribou- 
skin. The broad part is bound with a 
lavender-colored cloth, attached to which 
are red and green silk ribbons, and a small 
piece of green ribbon is attached also to 
the narrow ends, but close to the wide 
part. The red ribbons signify small 
game, the green ones large game. The 
scene is embroidered in red, yellow, pink, 
and green sewing silk, and represents in 
the center the hunter on snowshoes in the 
act of shooting a caribou. Behind him 
is a tree on which is perched a loon; 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



14 



HUNTING CHARMS 



while farther to the right is a lake con- 
taining figures of a duck and a beaver. 
On the left of the caribou figure is de- 
picted another tree, and also a lake in 
which is the figure of a gull. The curved 
figures above and below both the "lakes" 
represent trails. This example is 71 
inches long and 2^ inches wide. 

Lake Mistassini is about 175 miles long 
and half as wide; it lies approximately 300 
miles east of Hudson bay and 500 milee: 
north of the St Lawrence. A small Hud- 
son's Bay Company's post is situated 
there. For several hundred miles round 
about the people known as Mictaci'niwi- 
iuts (" Big Rock people"), forming a band 
of about 30 families, live and hunt. These 
Mistassini are ver\^ interesting; they are 
conservative, primitive, and live under 
great economic stress, being occasionally 
forced to choose between cannibalism or 
starvation. In dialect they form a group 
with the so-called Cree of Ruperts House 
on James bay, and to a certain extent 
with the Indians of Waswanipi. In cul- 
ture this same group extends eastward to 



INDIAN NOTES 




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HUNTING CHARMS 



15 



and including the Naskapi. One might 
say of them: genus, Naskapi; species, 
Alistassini. 

Part of this band was encountered 
trading at Lake St John, whence they 
had come some 400 to 700 miles from their 
hunting grounds to trade. 

The nimaban of the Mistassini are even 
more highly conventionalized than are 
those of the Montagnais, for they do not 
take the form of pack-straps, but are 
woven cords. 

PI. IV shows a large, white-tanned 
caribou-skin nimaban of four strands, 
obtained from Mia'nckem. The nima- 
ban is Mia'nckem himself, the loop seen 
at the lower right-hand corner is his head, 
the loose end his legs. He explained the 
white coloring as symbolic of the caribou 
which he needed for his sustenance. The 
first ribbons symbolize: green, small 
game; dark-blue, bear; red wool, beaver; 
pink silk, lynx. In the middle the two 
strings of blue and white glass beads 
are the legs of the nimaban, and sym- 
bolize caribou. The final pair of strings 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



16 



HUNTING CHARMS 



of beads are the hind-legs of the nimaban, 
and the loose string ends are the tails 
of the nimaban and symbolize "trails of 
game." Mia'nckem said that he did 
not display his nimaban often, because 
it weakened its power. He carried it in 
his game-pouch, and when approaching 
his victim often wound it about his 
shoulders. If he took small game, he tied 
the carcass in it and carried it suspended 
thus over his shoulders, the head of the 
nimaban (the loop) cleated over a stick 
piercing the nostrils of the animal, like a 
toggle (resembling the Eskimo method 
of dragging home seals), the " tails" of the 
nimaban tied to the animal's right hind- 
leg. In the case of large game, he left the 
carcass with his nimaban stretched on the 
animal's chest, its head to the animal's 
head. Mia'nckem could sell the power 
of his nimaban, but if he gave it away 
or lent it, it would not function. 

The length of the nimaban is propor- 
tionate to the age of the owner, and in 
this case is exactly 15 feet. Young men 
have small ones, which are replaced by 



INDIAN NOTES 



HUNTING CHARMS 



longer ones as they grow stronger and 
kill more animals. 

Mia'nckem is about forty years of age. 
There was more to learn from him re- 
garding this specimen, but the absence 
of a competent interpreter prevented the 
obtaining of further information. 

PI. V shows a small, smoked, caribou- 
skin nimaban belonging to Metowe'cic's 
son, who is about twelve years of age. 
His mother had made this for the boy, 
who was about to accompany his father 
on one of his first more serious hunts. 
The symbolism is as usual: a loop, the 
hunter's head; the tuft of ribbon and 
braid representing — blue ribbon, bear; 
red braid, beaver; and red silk, small 
game, these being the animals especially 
desired in this case. The boy is taught 
the individual symbolism by his father, 
and instructed in the ceremonial pro- 
cedure when he has killed a beast. 

The tail is four-ply, and the two lOng 
pieces tie the whole string together for 
carrying jmrposes. When a beaver is 
killed, the hunter pierces the septum of 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



HUNTING CHARMS 



the animal's nose, inserts a stick as a 
cleat, puts the loop or "head" of the 
string about the cleat, and ties the two 
longest strings of the "tail" around the 
right hind-leg. He then smokes over the 
beaver and carries it home, slung over his 
shoulder on the nimaban. If he should 
get a bear, being unable to carry it alone, 
he would smoke first, then leave his 
nimaban on the bear's chest, rolling the 
animal on its back, the nimaban doubled 
with its head toward the bear's head. 
When an animal has been left, to enable 
the hunter to return to camp for help, 
it is believed no beast of prey will eat 
the carcass while the nimaban is resting 
on its chest. Possibly the man-smell on 
the nimaban may be a safeguard. 

Every hunter owns and carries a 
nimaban on his excursions and renews it 
from time to time according to some 
religious prompting. It is a very subjec- 
tive article, and the symbolism seems to 
be somewhat individual. Several other 
like specimens, which unfortunately could 
not be obtained, were partly explained 



INDIAN NOTES 



RD 148 



HUNTING CHARMS 



by the Mistassini, but complete infor- 
mation regarding them was not available, 
as the hunters do not betray their secrets 
even to one another. The occasion for 
doing so seldom arises, as each man is his 
own ceremonial official and practises his 
rites when he is alone. I ndividualism of a 
generally similar type will be found to be 
the keynote to the ceremonialism of all 
the Algonkians of the eastern Canadian 
and Hudsonian zones. 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



19 






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